Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark ContinentFeather, A. G., Col.
History
Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark Continent
Feather, A. G., Col.
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Livingstone, David, 1813-1873; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
It had been supposed by Dr. Livingstone that the waters of Tanganyika
Lake had outlet northward, and that they were, therefore, a part of the
necessarily vast sources of the great river of the continent whose
annual inundations are among the most wonderful illustrations in nature
of the more than majestic power of Almighty God. His many discoveries of
great lakes and rivers far to the westward of Tanganyika, their evident
connection in a system, similar to that of the great lakes of North
America at last forming the St. Lawrence river, flowing northward; the
natural necessity there is for immense sources of supply to the
Nile--these and other considerations left the explorer to imagine that
Tanganyika formed a part of the same system with that lake which he
named after an illustrious President of the United States. The commander
of the “Herald” expedition, therefore, with a fine appreciation of the
situation, offered his escort to Dr. Livingstone, with a proposal to
accompany him to the head of the lake. The offer was accepted, and the
explorer, as Mr. Stanley says, “like a hero, lost no time in starting.”
The account of this journey, or voyage, rather, for the party travelled
by boat, is given in a dispatch dated December 23, 1871, at Ujiji. It is
as follows:
“On the 20th of November Dr. Livingstone and your correspondent, with
twenty picked men of the HERALD Expedition Corps, started. Despite the
assertion of Arabs that the Warundi were dangerous and would not let us
pass, we hugged their coast closely, and when fatigued boldly encamped
in their country. Once only were we obliged to fly--and this was at dead
of night--from a large party which we knew to be surrounding us on the
land side. We got to the boat safely, and we might have punished them
severely had the Doctor been so disposed. Once also we were stoned, but
we paid no heed to them and kept on our way along their coast until we
arrived at Mokamba’s, one of the chiefs of Usige. Mokamba was at war
with a neighboring chief, who lived on the left bank of the Rusizi. That
did not deter us, and we crossed the head of the Tanganyika to
Mugihewah, governed by Ruhinga, brother of Mokamba.
“Mugihewah is a tract of country on the right bank of the Rusizi,
extending to the lake. With Mokamba and Ruhinga we became most intimate;
they proved to be sociable, good-natured chiefs, and gave most valuable
information concerning the countries lying to the north of Usige; and if
their information is correct, Sir Samuel Baker will be obliged to
curtail the ambitious dimensions of his lake by one degree, if not more.
A Mgwana, living at Mokamba’s, on the eastern shore of the lake, had
informed us that the River Rusizi certainly flowed out of the lake, and
after joining the Kitangule emptied into the Lake Nyanza (Victoria).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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